COTTON BALLS

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

George had been a Christian for over ten years. Like an amusement park roller coaster he had his ups and downs spiritually. Sometimes he felt like he was on the right track and at other times he derailed and headed not only nowhere but way off the straight and narrow path. Recently he had been convicted about his relationship with the Lord and that he needed to be more consistent in living the way he should as a Christian. One morning before going to work he got down on his knees and prayed that God would show him what he needed to do to grow as a Christian. He went to work hoping God had heard him.

 

George arrived at work and proceeded to go to his office. On the way down the hallway he noticed Nancy the office secretary. It perked his interest that she was wearing an unusually short skirt. George trained his eyes on her figure; but before he could fully appreciate her beauty he heard someone whisper in his ear; “Holiness.” Startled, George turned around to see who had spoken to him. No one was there. He looked around puzzled. Suspecting he was imagining things he turned back to find Nancy but she had already gone.

 

George continued onto his office where he sat down and began working on his computer. Minutes passed as he got the financial records together for the quarter earnings of the company he worked for. He knew the boss wouldn’t be happy about the drop in sales. He gazed at the columns of numbers before him on the computer screen. His deceptive and skilled creativity began to kick in as he wondered how he could shift numbers to make the report look better. Suddenly he heard the voice again, “Righteousness.” George jerked his head around towards the door to see who was eavesdropping on his work. No one stood in the doorway. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he glanced behind him, under the table across the room and down at the floor behind the coat rack. “What’s going on?” he thought. George was so rattled by the whispering voice he forgot about fudging the numbers. He continued on with work and printed out the report as it should be.

 

George looked at his watch and noticed it was lunchtime. He grabbed the brown paper bag that held his turkey sandwich and decided to browse the web while he ate. He clicked on his web bookmarks and glanced down the list. There it was; his favorite lunchtime pursuit, “Hot Time.”

 

“Hot Time” was a porno site he had found by accident about a month ago. It wasn’t hard core or anything, otherwise he wouldn’t visit it, because after all, he was a Christian. He just felt that any normal American male had the right to partake of such things at times. George moved his mouse over to the bookmark column and just as he was getting ready to right‑click his mouse on “Hot Time” he heard the voice again, “Purity.” George stood up like a rocket. “Who is that?” he shouted aloud. No one answered him.

 

George’s hands began to shake. He felt a little sick to his stomach. What was going on? Was he going crazy? It couldn’t be good that he was hearing voices. Possibly if he put something in his ears he wouldn’t hear the voices anymore? George pulled open his middle desk drawer. Pencils and pens rolled forward as the drawer was jerked open. George frantically searched the drawer for something he could plug his ears with. Then he saw it, an aspirin bottle. He opened it and found a small ball of cotton. He pulled it apart in equal halves and placed each one in an ear. He felt like he was under water as the noises of the office became muffled. He had to test his solution.

 

George sat back down and moved his mouse over to the bookmark column and clicked on “Hot Time.”

 

 Questions for the reader of this short Christian teaching…

 

Well, how do you think George was doing at his new commitment to grow as a follower of Christ?

 

Do you think George’s answer to his voice problem worked?

 

Who do you think George heard whispering to him?

 

 I’m sure you know the answer.

 

I can’t say that I have heard God speak to me verbally very often, but there have been times I thought He was speaking to me.

 

We are very lucky as Christians. We aren’t left on our own in living the Christian life. We have each other as brothers and sisters to hold one another accountable. We have Jesus our Lord and Advocate who defends us against the accusations of Satan. We also have the Holy Spirit who lives within us to help us live a pure and holy life. (John 14:16, Ephesians 1:13‑14, 2 Timothy 1:14)

 

He guides us, comforts us, convicts us and instructs us in how to live righteous and holy lives. (John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:13‑14)

 

He tells us what God wishes us to do and how to behave. Often He will use scripture to help us understand and remember what God wishes us to do.

 

Just like George though, we can ignore God and His Spirit if we choose to. We grieve the Spirit when we fail to heed His words. Cotton balls in our ears won’t work, but a hardened heart and callous soul can lead us down a road where our heart becomes callous to the whispers of the Holy Spirit to remain pure and holy in our walk with Christ. When we ignore the whispers of the Spirit we begin to enter the doorway to sin.

 

We are warned not to grieve the Spirit when He speaks to us (Ephesians 4:30). God knows that His Spirit, His Comforter is necessary for us to honor and glorify Him in our lives. Only by being a careful listener and an obedient child of God can we fulfill the calling we have on our lives as Christians.

 

I hope that you and I can stop putting spiritual cotton in our ears and open our hearts, minds, souls and ears to the whispers of God’s Holy Spirit.

 

1 Corinthians 6:19‑20

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”